Last night’s Strikeforce card was a memorable one — even though there were a couple aspects of the show that we’d love to forget. Now that the dust has settled, let’s take a look back at Tate vs. Rousey’s thrilling highlights and awful lowlights…

The Good
- First and foremost, this gif from the weigh ins. Oh, Ronda. [*flexes butt seductively*]

- Ronda Rousey‘s title-winning performance against Miesha Tate. We finally learned what Rousey’s “Plan B” is when she’s unable to armbar you within the first minute — unsurprisingly, it’s another armbar. Rousey kept her head when Miesha stormed out at her in the beginning of the fight, calmly extracted herself from bad positions on the ground, and didn’t get discouraged when her first nasty armbar attempt failed to break Miesha’s elbow. Instead, she relied on the judo expertise that has carried her to a title shot in less than a year of professional MMA competition, and got the inevitable snap/tap at 4:27 of round 1. During her post-fight interview, Rousey proved that her heat-seeking personality doesn’t turn off just because the match is over. (Yes, she holds grudges, and yes, she still thinks Tate sucks.) A meeting with former champ Sarah Kaufman is next, but I can’t be the only one looking ahead to a possible 135-pound superfight against Cris Cyborg.

- Ronaldo Souza‘s striking. In the past, Jacare’s occasional tendency to keep fights standing has struck me as a frustrating betrayal of his bread-and-butter. (See also: Demian Maia.) But against Bristol Marunde, Souza’s striking looked just as dangerous as his grappling; his ferocious overhand rights and unconventional kicks brought to mind other Brazilian bangers like Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante and Edson Barboza. Jacare is still evolving as a fighter, and Luke Rockhold should watch his back.

- The Sarah Kaufman vs. Alexis Davis fight on the prelims. If you were able to catch it on Showtime Extreme, consider yourself lucky. Kaufman/Davis was the kind of three-round brawl that you don’t often see in women’s MMA, and it went a long way in securing Kaufman as the rightful next-in-line for a bantamweight title shot. Kaufman will surely be a big underdog against Rousey, but her sprawl-and-brawl style is the perfect skillset for a fight against the champ.

The Bad- Scott Smith‘s physique. Judging by his soft midsection, Smith didn’t take preparations for his return to middleweight seriously enough, and it showed in his performance, where he was manhandled and out-grappled by relative newcomer Lumumba Sayers. The fight was over before Smith had a chance to make one of his miraculous comebacks. With four losses in a row, Smith’s time on the big stage might be over.

- The referee in Tate vs. Rousey not stopping the fight until about eight seconds after Tate’s arm had grown a new elbow. Tate showed her warrior heart by not tapping until the pain was overwhelming; the ref showed his ignorance by not stopping the fight until that moment.

- Josh Thomson‘s safety-first performance against KJ Noons, and his graceless analysis of it: “It was shit…My conditioning was shit, so my fight was shit.” Cool story, bro. Thomson made a big show of his anti-Obama t-shirt after the fight, but at least you have to give him credit for not being a creep about his political opinions, unlike some people we know.

The Ugly
- Kazuo Misaki’s face after his decision win over Paul Daley. After suffering a Marvin Eastman-caliber head gash in the third round, he also ended up with a Ryan McGillivray-style broken nose.

- The Nazi pedophile on the undercard. In an attempt to add more local flavor to the prelims, Strikeforce booked Ohio native Brandon Saling to fight Roger Bowling. Not-so-fun fact: Saling previously did time in prison on a “gross sexual imposition” charge for raping a 12-year-old girl. And he didn’t generate any sympathy last night when he stepped into the cage rocking white supremacist tattoos, including an ’88′ on his shoulder which is Neo Nazi code for “Heil Hitler.” To make a long story short, he’s a shit-stain on the underwear of humanity, and Strikeforce screwed up royally by not doing a basic background check before booking him on their televised prelim broadcast. This is not who we need representing us, guys.

Cagepotato Comments

Showing 1-25 of comments

@ ChucksChin. I detest white supremacists. I don't even like most white people. Stop spreading your narrow minded propaganda about the narrow minded. Wait if he's also a pedophile would that make it a double negative?

ytrebil- March 5, 2012 at 3:15 am

Women headlining a top MMA promotion is not my idea of the right direction… damn. I really, really hope that the UFC doesn’t showcase women fighting, or if it does it should be from the following, preferably 1) mud wrestling with Arianny + Palmer or 2) it should be on the undercard… way undercard.

FilmDrunk- March 4, 2012 at 8:06 pm

I totally disagree about the Nazi pedophile guy. He's fighting in a cage, not trying to take kids on a camping trip. It's not the promotion's place to keep him from fighting for political reasons, that's what why we have the law. No one says shit when Dana White's palling around with Mike Tyson, who's a convicted rapist. Letting someone fight to earn a living doesn't mean you condone his lifestyle.

Lesnarischamp- March 4, 2012 at 1:05 pm

time for the regional circuit for scott smith. he was just collecting a paycheck.

bootystar- March 4, 2012 at 12:05 pm

also maybe arnold has all the other gym rats hangin off his jock, lol

bootystar- March 4, 2012 at 12:04 pm

@s8n - working out in jail, lol, make that dana & everyone other athele as well, lol, wouldn't arnold be the mayor of the prison gym, lol

s8n- March 4, 2012 at 11:36 am

Strikeforce is total trash. Low class fighters, cheesy commentators, ex-cons, meatheads--totally unprofessional. They need to also tell these moron meatheads to keep their political opinions to themselves since they obviously don't know sh*t about the real world--except what little of FAUX news they watch in the gym. They need to stick to what they know--fighting to stay out of prison and working out constantly.
RwilsonR proves my point--what a moron. See you in hell soon numb nuts.

ChucksChin- March 4, 2012 at 10:50 am

haha ok bootystar.

@mmaandrew34, it's not about the tap. The arm was clearly dislocated, but he was too unaware to notice. That's some minor league shit

bootystar- March 4, 2012 at 10:19 am

@ChucksChin, I take offense to that cuz I eat shits like that for breakfast every morning along with my potato salad

jyveturkey- March 4, 2012 at 9:54 am

one trick pony needs work on her mount striking. so gay.

mmaandrew34- March 4, 2012 at 9:49 am

leave the ref alone. you bitch at him when he stops it without a tap now you are bitching at him for waiting for the tap. go fuck yourselves

ChucksChin- March 4, 2012 at 9:43 am

hey klit klam kurtain, show some support for your racist "shit-stain" brethren. Oh that's right youre a coward

Seraldo Babalu- March 4, 2012 at 8:51 am

at least tate covered up her camel toe with a skirt this time. note to women of MMA: don't let your boyfriend smash it the night before a fight

Spartacus81- March 4, 2012 at 8:34 am

That Ref in the Tate -Rousey fight is a total idiot. He should have his license revoked and NEVER ref another fight EVER. That was absolutely ridiculous.

HEY- March 4, 2012 at 8:33 am

And here I thought it would be a gif of the forehead shoving...

Slap-a-Biatch- March 4, 2012 at 8:31 am

Agree with Dyph. I don't mean to be hatin' but that play by play commentary was Misaki's face after the fight.

bootystar- March 4, 2012 at 8:30 am

Frank Mir - My jujitsu is good

axhed- March 4, 2012 at 8:26 am

hey, she looked 15!

captcha: creep swomer

Dyph- March 4, 2012 at 7:59 am

The Ugly:

Steve Silverman's overuse of ellipses and lack of proof reading.

RwilsonR- March 4, 2012 at 7:59 am

I thought they gave up on that whole Strikeforce HW Grand Prix. Huh... who knew?

RwilsonR- March 4, 2012 at 7:57 am

BG, you Zionist Zuffa shill. When are you going to forgive and forget about that little Holocaust misunderstanding and move on?
Or at least that's what I'm assuming XENO will say once he hops on to provide his own unique brand of anti-Semitic analysis of your analysis concerning the worthless Brandon Saling.